Art Heist, a Carmilla AU
by Paxalot
Summary: Laura is the curator for a new show at the Vancouver Institute of art. At the museum, she meets a woman who is both mysterious and charming. Laura, desperate to know more pursues the strange girl, all the while art from the museum is disappearing. A Carmilla AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

New city, new job, new life. She took a shaky breath, exhaling slowly watching the slight cloud of mist that curled away from her up into the cold autumn air. Cars flew by, people hurried past, heads tucked low into collars hoping to fight off the growing chill. After another quick glance at her phone she thrust it deep into the pocket of her old gray coat, the soft lining of the pocket long worn away, leaving the rough wool to scratch at her hand. Stopping briefly to pick up the large thin package she was caring she stepped off the curb into the street, warm, brown eyes darting quickly back and forth looking for a cab, one arm clutching the package, the other in the process of jamming a stocking cap tighter onto her head.

A short drive and several dollars later, she arrived at her destination, boots clicking up the marble steps to large, reaching columns that stretched up towards the sky. Once inside the ornately carved wooden doors, she breezed past security with the flash of her keycard, struggling with the awkwardly large package, she stopped just inside the atrium and visibly relaxed. THE INSTITUTE OF ART OF VANCOUVER, BC read the large welcome banner overhead. She sighed, and turned toward the hallway that led to labs in the back of the museum. Hefting the package, which was growing heavier by the second, she began the long trek to the restoration center at the back of the building. It was the beginning of a new part of her life, the chance of a lifetime. When she had gotten the call in the middle of the night with an offer to curate a show at one of the biggest museums in Canada, she didn't think twice about it. She'd dropped everything to be here, her house, her job, her friends. Well, almost everything. Her boyfriend, Gavin, had insisted on coming with her. She didn't know how she felt about this development, sure Gavin was a nice guy, he was always there for her, supportive and encouraging. But something just wasnt right, it felt too strained to her, too forced, but now that he had uprooted his entire life for her, she couldn't exactly bring up the tension that was now a familiar weight in the pit of her stomach.  
>"Miss Hollis?"<p>

Stephan, the security guard grinned up from his seat at the booth.

"Oh, hello! I'm sorry. Here," She thrust her badge into the space underneath the glass with a startled smile, "and please, you can call me Laura, everyone's so formal around here, it gives me the creeps."

"Alright Miss Hollis, you have a pleasant morning now." He handed her back the badge and the door to the left clicked, signaling her right to pass. She smiled at him and shouldered the door open, disappearing inside. She liked Stephan, he was the first person to smile at her when she'd gotten here a week and a half ago. He was pleasant to absolutely everyone and loved his job. She'd seen the picture of his wife and kids smiling on a fishing boat somewhere, and often wondered if he enjoyed fishing as much as she did. Perhaps she should ask sometime. She missed casual conversation.

Humming slightly, she placed the package on the steel work table, and turned to her locker. Shrugging off her overcoat, she removed a lab coat from her open locker, she frowned, glancing down in obvious frustration, the museum issued coat clashing with the cute floral print of her button up. She'd tried on four shirts before picking this one, the least she could do was look cute in it. Upon removing the stocking cap, a frantic battle between dark blonde hair and a disgruntled hair tie ensued. After several minutes of trying to jam her hair into a bun, she had mostly succeeded. Huffing angrily, she pinned the remaining hair out of her eyes and glared at no one in particular. To anyone who had never witnessed the battle of Laura's hair vs. Laura's hair tie, she appeared to be the the all time master of casually messy buns. Queen of the hot mess. She giggled at the thought. As if any one would find her that attractive.

In her eyes she was just average, completely happy with herself, but average. Short, a grand total of 5'2" (what she lacked in height, she made up for in pure, unbridled emotion) average build, strong but still pleasantly soft, average face, two eyes, a nose, mouth, two ears, a light dusting of freckles, nothing too exciting. She had a few piercings, courtesy of her college roommate LaFontaine, and her crazy girlfriend Perry. In total five, one on her nose, and a scattering of them across both ears. She liked them, but they often snagged on her hair which made her even more angry about the untamable explosion that spread wildly in all directions unless reigned in by several clips and ties. Grinning fondly at the memory of the two girls, she reached into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a pair of black horn rimmed glasses and a set of headphones. Gently placing the glasses on her nose and connecting the headphones to her iPod she scrolled down to 'Laura'S SUPER SECRET WORK PLAYLIST', grinned at the Demi Levato that now blasted through her thoughts and turned back to the brown paper package. Selecting an exacto knife from a steel tray she carefully inserted it into the top corner and began to slice down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Standing in a deserted hallway up on the fourth floor of the museum Laura stared hard at one of the paintings. It was an old work by Egbert Lievensz van der Poel, from about 1650. A beautiful depiction of a flaming windmill being put out in the night by villagers, she loved Lievensz, but there was something about this painting that didn't sit well with her. It had come in that saturday, to one of her colleagues in the department and she'd spent the last five of her lunch breaks staring into the depths of the paint, trying to figure out why it unsettled her so much. Her watch beeped. She sighed '_Why have I been sighing so much recently' _she thought to herself, "maybe its Gavin's fault" she voiced aloud, simply to see if saying it would make it easier to stomach.

"So who's Gavin then?"

Laura jump. Nearly out of her skin from the feel of it. She'd never been one to spook easily, but no one ever came into the hall. Ever. Whipping around she registered a smear of black before losing her balance and tipping sideways. A strong arm snaked around her waist haulting her fall in an almost perfect french dip. Laura gasped, eyes opening again, body tensed from an impact that never came. Heart still beating a mile a minute, she glanced up her dark eyes meeting intense, piercing, see-into-your-soul green ones. Tearing her eyes away from the captivating stare, she took in the rest of the face, pale, a slight blush coloring her cheeks, a faint white scar traveling half way up her left jaw, dark, expressive eyebrows, hella eyebrow game. A slight redness across the bridge of her nose suggested that she probably wore glasses some of the time. '_How do I even __**know**_ _something like that'_ thought Laura angrily. Her eyes followed the gentle curve of the mysterious womans nose to her lips. Lauras stomach flipped, against her will. The womans lips followed a similar elegance to her eye brows, all sharp angles but soft underneath, perfectly formed, one corner quirked up in a comical smirk, blood red. Captivating. This entire process, which felt to Laura like an entire lifetime, though it only actually spanned two seconds and the younger woman holding her cleared her throat, winked and lifted a stunned Laura back up onto her feet as if she weighed nothing. The girl smiled, and Lauras stomach gave another pleasantly unpleasant flip.

"Easy there, it usually takes much more than that for me to sweep a girl off her feet" The girl smiled, shaking gently curled black bangs out of her eyes. Her voice was deep. Really deep, and enticing. The kind of voice you want whispering secrets in your ear in the middle of the night. '_Laura what the heck are you thinking? Snap out of it!' _She was angry at herself. Mostly because her heart would not stop pounding and she could feel the blush on her cheeks.

"I. Um wow I'm really sorry, yeah. I– I'm just not used to people.. Up here.. you know?" Laura stuttered and blushed even deeper, kicking herself internally for making a complete fool of herself in front of this girl. '_Why do I even care what she thinks'_ was probably what she would have been thinking had the girl had not let out a charming, heart stopping laugh, tipping her head back and grinning widely.

It was in that moment that Laura decided that she wanted to be the cause of the smile for the rest of her life. This decision was followed immediately by another "what the hell?" moment, but the girl was staring intently so she decided she should probably do something. She opened her mouth but the dark haired girl beat her to it.

"You're cute all flustered like that, Cupcake."

Laura blushed, opened her mouth a few more times and then let out a frustrated breath. Her watch beeped again.

"Shit, I've got to go, I, oh my goodness I'm so rude," She extended a hand "Laura Hollis, I'm a curator here at the museum." The girl took her hand, a spark of electricity jumped across her skin, goosebumps erupting from the point of contact between their hands.

"Miss Hollis, a pleasure to meet you. I must say, you're even more beautiful up close as you are from afar."

If it was possible for the shorter woman to blush any deeper, she did. The taller girl dropped her hand, winked, and sauntered away. Hips swaying, every curve highlighted by the dark pinstriped skinny jeans, and black leather jacket. She walked silently, even in black buckled combat boots and a black and red messenger bag littered with clasps. Her hair was tied up effortlessly into a messy bun, dark, with a nice wave to it. As she walked away, the spell over Laura broke and she dragged her eyes away from those incredible hips.

"Wait!"

The mysterious woman turned back "What can I do for you Creampuff?" all smooth and sultry, her voice like liquid sex.

"I dont even know your name!" Laura insisted, blushing again

"Mm you don't need too. You'll figure it out" She turned and began to saunter away once more. "Oh, and you were right about that painting," she called over her shoulder, "It's a fake."

And with that she was gone, rounding the corner to the staircase.

Laura stood stunned for a moment before whirling around to the painting once more. Quickly lifting it from the wall, she checked the back, sure enough the panel it had been painted on was oak with a beautiful lacquer finish. No Dutch artist in the 17th century would have had access to that kind of lacquer. The painting was a brilliant work of art, but a fake none the less. She sighed, and hung the painting back up on the wall. She turned to walk back towards the lab when she caught herself smiling. '_Thats odd, I haven't smiled at nothing in years. Not since I started dating Gavin.'_ And with that thought, she took off running, down the stairs through the labyrinth of hallways in the museum in a desperate attempt to get to her locker. Flying past Stephan at the security station, she wrenched the door to her lab open and grabbed her coat, not bothering to take anything else she burst through the doors of the museum, arms waving frantically in an attempt to hail a cab. She needed to get home. She needed to tell him it was over. He had never made her smile at nothing and now, it was over.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Laura leaned her head against the backboard, the last few hours a blur. She'd gone home and walked in on a her boyfriend laying on the couch watching some stupid TV show at 2 in the afternoon.

'_Oh hey babe, why aren't you at work?' he had looked at her with an expectant smile._

'_Why aren't you Gavin? I thought you told me you'd gotten a job' _

'_Oh um.. Well'_

'_Did you lie to me?'_

'_No, not exactly.. You see, I was just waiting–'_

'_No, I dont want to hear it anymore.' She threw her bag down and stalked towards him 'None of your LAME, LAZY EXCUSES!' She was yelling, she knew she was but it didn't matter not after putting up with him for three years. All of his lies and stupid friends and parties and betrayals. 'Its over Gavin we're done.' _

_He just sat there stunned for a moment. Mouth hanging open, it would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so serious. She went into their room and threw her clothes into a suitcase. She hated unpacking so luckily most of her stuff was still in bags. She grabbed her stuff out of the bathroom and ripped her phone charger aggressively from the wall. Shoving it and her laptop into her briefcase, she turned on her heel and marched out of the room into the front hall. Gavin was still sitting in the same place she had left him in. 'Goodbye Gavin. I'll be back tomorrow to grab the rest of my things.'_

_Finally he moved, 'Wait! Why are you leaving?' there was pain in his voice. The sort of desperation that accompanies having your entire life crumble around your ears. But Laura was done. She'd had enough. 'You want to know why Gavin?' She was crying, but it didn't matter anymore, it was over. 'Its because you've never made me smile. Youve never made me smile at nothing! And I don't deserve to live like that!'_

_And with that she was gone, out the door and down the stairs of their apartment building. She'd flagged the first cab she saw and headed to the nearest hotel. Checking into the room she'd simply dropped everything and taken a long, hot shower. It felt good to be free of him. Like a weight had suddenly been lifted and she could face the world again. _

She sighed, burrowing deeper into the nest of blankets on her fluffy hotel bed. She'd unpacked here, planning on it becoming her permanent residence for the course of the exhibition. Hell, rent was 50 bucks cheaper a month to live in the hotel, which seemed preposterous to her but hey, they had scratch and sniff money, Canada was a weird place. She awoke to the buzz of her phone and the slight beeping of the "urgent call" setting, it was dark out, granted it was dark until nine o'clock in the morning most days but laura knew she was too tired for this to be a normal 7am you've-got-a-meeting-in-five-minutes call. She groaned and rolled over groping blindly for the phone in the pitch blackness. After several seconds of frustrated cursing she located her cell from its spot on the floor. _4:26AM Incoming call from AIoV status: Urgent_ read the glowing display "Ah shit– Hello?"

"Is this Laura Hollis?" A hesitant male voice on the other end shook slightly.

"Speaking" She groaned internally. Just what she needed, work drama, on top of all the other drama in her life

"Miss Hollis, I'm afraid someone's broken into the museum"

"The what?!"

"The museum Miss, they appear to have broken in. Work is missing, we need you down here right away"

If anyone asked Laura how she dealt with emergencies, she'd tell them that she was the kind of person who stays calm and level headed, assess the situation first and then acting, slowly and with deliberation, her overprotective father had been drilling emergency protocols into her brain since she could understand stick-people diagrams. In reality, Laura panicked. She threw herself out of bed, jamming on her glasses, grabbing the closest articles of clothing, green t shirt, black jeans, mismatched socks, a pair of old beat up Vans, and an old blue and gray striped sweater. Grabbing her bag she sprinted down the 6 flights of stairs and emerged out onto the street whirling frantically around in an attempt to orient herself. There, a street sign. She was on the corner of 8th and Renfrew, just two blocks from the museum. She grinned and took off at a sprint.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

She arrived 8 minutes later in a mismatched explosion of insane bedhead attempting to be tamed, one shoe falling off, the other untied. Breathless and with a wild look in her eye, Laura burst into the lab an apology already spilling from her lips. The words died in her throat as she realized the entire lab was present, looking as if they had witnessed something along the lines of a double homicide. Danny, head of security was pacing back and forth angrily her red hair was tousled from constantly running her hands through it. She whipped around at the sound of the door glaring, her face softening when she realized it was Laura. It was clear that she she had feelings for Laura, who as usual was oblivious to any sort of non-platonic affection. Laura wedged herself between LaFontaine, who was now the biological preservation specialist for the museum and their girlfriend Lola Perry. Laura was sort of puzzled to see Perry as she was only in charge of tours, but the museum Director was giving directions and Laura quickly dismissed to thought, focusing her attention on the rigid, austere woman before her.

The museum Director was not someone to cross. A severe woman who only wore black suits and 6 inch heels, she was always ten minutes early for everything and never left the office until everyone had gone home. There was a rumor that she was actually a vampire, LaFontaine swears they'd never seen the Director eat or drink anything and that she never actually went home, rather the Director slept in a coffin under her desk. No one has ever actually gotten close enough to dispel the rumor so it was a running game with the employees to find further proof of the harsh, tight-lipped women's undead status.

Laura was yanked back into the present by the sound of her name.

"Do you understand Miss Hollis?"

"W–what?"

"Inventory Miss Hollis, take it. Find what is missing. Then notify LaFontaine and Miss Lawrence. And of course my secretary William. Go out and make a list. Is that clear enough?"

"Yes, yes ma'am" Laura nodded furiously, gulping. "I'll get right to it."

Everyone in the lab was silent, watching the Director who in turn was staring at Laura like she was an unpleasant stain that needed to be cleaned with bleach. The tension in the room was thick enough to be cut with a knife, and Laura could feel herself breaking out into a cold sweat under the scrutinizing gaze of the intimidating woman.

LaFontaine cleared their throat, and the spell was broken. The Director turned on her heel and began to march out of the room. Just before she left, she turned and looked Laura up and down. "Miss Hollis, for someone who begged to work here, at least be humble enough to pay attention to your superiors. You are not the most important person in the world and it would do you good to remember that." And with that she was gone leaving Laura to squeak out a "Yes Director Karnstein" while flushing with embarrassment.

Perry and LaFontaine tried to comfort her, but Laura couldn't help the tears that pricked her vision. She hiccuped a bit as she explained what happen between her and Gavin early that evening. Perry hugged her and told her everything would be okay and offered her a chocolate bar from her badg in her typical mom attitude. Danny, who was still wandering around the lab remarked that "Laura's a big hit with the ladies, I wouldn't worry." then walked out. Laura blushed furiously, and started scrambling around the lab collecting her inventory supplies. Visibly flustered she said goodbye to Perry and Laf and ventured out into the museum to asses the damage.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Laura rubbed her eyes sleepily, shaken from a dream state by the sound of footsteps and children's laughter. She was disoriented, sleepy and sluggish, content to keep resting on her padded bench in the upper wing. She glanced around at the art, placing herself in the european impressionism hall, she loved the art here. _The art_. Laura sat bolt upright. Her notepad slid to the floor, pencil rolling across the wood paneling. Spluttering she stooped to retrieve her list, checking her watch. 8:17Am. Shit. The museum had been open for more than a quarter of an hour. She'd sat down around seven o'clock after checking over almost half of the huge building and finding absolutely nothing missing. She was just so tired. A bad night and an early morning, she'd been up since four, surely her little nap wouldnt go noticed by the other staff. Grabbing her labcoat and bag she scrambled about for her pencil, her hand, which was about to close over the wooden dowel was instead met with a black leather boot.

"Smooth, Sundance." Laura's head snapped up. The girl was even more attractive than last time. Her hair was down, rippling softly, she seemed to radiate an internal glow, as if she bathed in moonlight. Laura's eyes traveled down to her lips which were the kind of red that she associates with smashing the patriarchy. Her shirt was blue and purple, gauzy and see through, the sleeves rolled up adding to the broody look. Her bra was black, not that laura was looking, or that it mattered. Laura who was crouched at about waist height was met with tight leather pants, and a pale sliver of skin where the girls shirt rode up. Laura blushed, a warm flush crawling across her skin. Laura quickly shoved the feeling away to analyze later and cleared her throat. "Can I have my pencil back please?"

"No." The girl bent down, quickly lifting her boot and retrieving the pencil. Laura blew out a frustrated breath, pulling herself up to her full height. This girl made her anger flare, she wasn't quite sure why.

"Give me back my pencil." Laura held out her hand expectantly, who did this girl think she was?

"Well, Cutie, see I don't really want to." She tucked the offending utensil into her back pocket and winked.

Oh my god. "Seriously? Just give it back." She crossed her arms. The girl slouched lazily, smirking, clearly enjoying Laura's frustration. Laura was quietly fuming but she refused to play this stupid game anymore. She straightened her lab coat and let her arms drop to her sides. "Fine, I'll bite. What do you want me to do?" Her tone was challenging, her anger still apparent under the surface.

The girl almost smiled. Almost, her eyes lit up like the first time Laura had seen her, but it was quickly snuffed out and replaced by that teasing smirk.

"Wow cupcake, if you wanted to surrender your body to me all you had to do was say so." It was lucky Laura wasn't holding anything important, because her hands clenched, clamped her lips together and began to shake with rage. The girl laughed maliciously, whipping out the pencil, she stuck it behind Laura's ear, kissed her on the cheek and sauntered away. Laura quickly decided that even though this girl was probably the hottest person she'd ever seen, she was still rude and obnoxious. 'So why does my stomach flip when I think about her?' Her cheek tingled where the taller girls lips had brushed it, and she could feel the blush that crept up her neck. She was furious, why did this girl think she could walk all over Laura and then just smirk and walk away. It wasn't fair.

Laura tucked her things away in her bag and marched to the staff elevator, inserted her key and began the descent down into the labs.

LaFontaine was tinkering around when she arrived, they extended a nod and a smile in her direction, but resumed work on the canvas in front of them oblivious to their surroundings, lost in passion for some weird goop stuck to a canvas that no one else wanted to touch. Laura sighed. She was not much of a goop girl herself. Her overprotective father was adamant about keeping Laura away from strange science experiments and equipment because '_you never know what could be carrying the zombie virus these days_'. Though this was probably a valid concern as Laura was somewhat unlucky and a very big klutz, she was bound to knock something over eventually. She was an Art History and Journalism major, she liked solving puzzles. Sitting down at her work table, she plucked a pink post-it off her computer.

_Found 1 missing painting (3-61A.147) a William Mulready portrait. Don't forget to email Will your cleared list. Are we still on for 5?_

_-Perry __**& LaF!**_

Laura grinned, she'd forgotten that they had dinner plans. Checking the catalogue, she updated the status of the painting of a gentleman lounging in an ornate room and a maid serving him tea to Missing and attached the email to Will along with her report of the rest of the building. Logging off, she turned to her steel table, where the newest piece for her show sat in its frame, the dynamic portrait of a young girl, oil on canvas. Laura had always wanted to do a Toulouse-Lautrec collection, his impressionistic and bold use of pastel had always fascinated her. This portrait had been in a private London collection for years. But a few polite letters and here it was, ready to be added to the growing selection of his work she'd been accumulating over the past few years. T

hat's why they'd moved her here, the exhibition was almost ready. Just three more pieces to find and restore and the show would be complete. She sighed, plucking her glasses out of her pocket and sliding them on, carefully lifting the frame, checking for any signs of stress in the attachments.

She hummed tunelessly as she worked. Her thoughts drifting to the mysterious girl. Why had she been so rude today? Did Laura do something wrong the first time they met? She quickly dismissed the idea, she didn't care what this girl thought, sure she was incredibly attractive, all curves and attitude and that sultry voice of hers. But that didn't mean Laura was going to let this girl walk all over her.

Why was she so fascinated by this girl. Sure she'd had crushes on girls before, but nothing like this. The way her stomach flipped when she smiled, the desperate need to be liked by this girl even when she was rude and standoffish. Laura kept thinking about the look in the girls eyes, dark and expressive, like she was hiding something, something she didn't want Laura to see. The lab slowly empties as the work day came to a close, and Laura packed up her things, replacing her lab coat and grabbing her things. With a final sweep around her workplace, she turned and headed back to the hotel.

That walk was short and brisk, the city alive and bustling in the cold evening. It was dark already, but that came as no surprise. Her breath fogged and she pulled her coat tighter against her body, a siren was wailing across the city somewhere. Arriving chilled to the bone in the lobby, she pulled off her gloves and made her way to the front desk. "Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me."

The woman at the desk looked up and smiled. "Are you miss Hollis?"

Laura nodded, "My boyf– my um. My ex he said he came by today to drop my things off, do you have them?" She'd gotten the text at lunch and was rather relieved that she wouldn't have to see him again. He told her he was going to go back home to his parents if she wasn't keeping him here anymore. She was glad to be rid of him honestly, she felt much freer without him holding her back.

"I had them sent up to your room Miss, everything will be there when you go up."

Laura thanked the woman, Marice, her name tag read, and headed upstairs.

Opening the door, her bags were carefully stacked in the middle of the room, between the bed and the desk, she walked over to it, a note from Gavin lay atop the stack. here babe, _sorry it didn't work out between us_ She crumpled it in her fist and threw it into the garbage tin. She didn't want anymore painful reminders of what happened. She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. The faint smell of roses wafted into her consciousness. Her eyes snapped open. Whirling, she spotted the offending item. A bouquet of about 20 roses, deep red and in the height of their bloom. She stalked over to them, furious that he would try to win her back with something as easy as roses.

Sure they were her favorite flower but there was no way he knew that. He'd never bothered to ask. She snached to vase off the table, breifly inhaling their sweet scent, like springtime and kisses and earth and sunshine all wrapped into one, before turning to put them in the garbage as well. She didn't need his lame attempts to get her back. A small slip of paper fluttered to the floor, she stooped, swiping it up. It was blank, she turned it over. Her brow furrowed in confusion, on the slip was a single, cursive C. She turned it this way and that, looking for more letters. but that was it. Flowers, anonymus, and her favorite too. She set the vase gently down on the night table. Pulling out her phone she quickly dialed.

"Laura what's up dear?"

"Perry hi, I just was calling to let you know. I won't be able to make dinner tonight, I'm sorry."

"Oh, love don't worry about it, I'll let Laf know. Maybe tomorrow?"

Laura sighed and rubbed her forehead, "Yeah, maybe. Thanks Per."

"Don't worry about it, have a wonderful night, okay?"

"Yeah you too Per. Bye"

"Bye"

Laura ended the call, hanging up the phone she put her pajamas on, smelled the roses one last time, and turned off the light.


End file.
